Exclusive: Microsoft knew Android wouldn't always get ‘Smoked by Windows Phone’
The Verge has learned that Microsoft went into its “Smoked by Windows Phone” campaign with a relatively thorough understanding of the risks involved, specifically telling employees of its retail stores to …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft's attack on Android has been building since 2010, when it staged an iPhone funeral procession mocking its rivals and argued that Android's hidden costs make it expensive for buyers. The 'Smoked by Windows Phone' speed-test campaign was the next escalation — live store challenges pitting Windows Phone devices against whatever customers walked in with.
The Verge's reporting, picked up the same day by Computerworld, PC Magazine and half a dozen other outlets, is that Microsoft went in with eyes open: retail employees were briefed that Android phones would win some challenges, and after a public backlash over a losing contestant, the company apologized and offered the winner both a laptop and a phone.
First-order effects
- Contestants who beat Windows Phone in store challenges now get made whole — Microsoft's apology-and-prize response converts a viral embarrassment into a controlled payout.
- Microsoft's own retail staff are operating under explicit instructions that the campaign's premise doesn't hold in every matchup, which constrains how hard they can push the pitch at the counter.
Second-order effects
- The stumble lands alongside Microsoft's confirmed firing of Bing consumer-marketing executives Eric Hadley and Sean Carver the same day, tightening accountability for edgy consumer campaigns across the company.
- Every future head-to-head claim Microsoft makes about Windows Phone will now be tested publicly by Android loyalists filming in stores, raising the cost of comparison advertising precisely when the platform needs it ahead of its LTE hardware push.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, platform-vendor stunt marketing shifts toward pre-risk-assessed campaigns with legal and PR sign-off built in — the era of unscripted trash talk giving way to managed provocation.
- Windows Phone's competitive strategy stays anchored on attacking Android directly rather than differentiating quietly, meaning each campaign carries reputational exposure the company must budget for as a recurring cost.
The trend: Microsoft's anti-Android messaging is maturing from 2010's spectacle-driven mockery into risk-managed comparison marketing, with the company now pricing in the backlash its own stunts generate.